Authors: V.S. Tice
“Oh, Ms. Allison, did you harm yourself?” Mrs. Baker ran in and observed the damage.
“I’m fine,” she snapped, and Mrs. Baker stopped halfway toward her.
“I, I’ll just get this cleaned up.” Mrs. Baker left but quickly returned with a dustpan and a mop.
Allison and I were locked in a stare down, neither of us backing down.
“I suggest you pack your things!” she seethed at me.
“Very well,” I spat.
“I can‘t believe Collin hasn‘t dismissed you yet! My god, you tried to seduce my husband and now you are working your gold-digging ways into my brother!” She was panting from the exertion of her screaming.
I took two steps closer to her and set my coffee cup on the table nearest to me.
“I told you before – I didn‘t try to do anything with your husband and I never would,” I snarled. “I’m not a gold digger and do not want any of your family’s money, especially your brother’s. So back the hell off!” My own fiery glare met hers.
“I hate you! Everything was fine until you showed up!” She lunged for me, and Mrs. Baker screamed.
We hit the marble floor and my coffee cup shattered next to us. I grabbed her flailing arms and held them to her sides while she struggled and screamed with all her might.
“Let go of me! I hate you! I hate you!” She pulled herself up and drew her knees to her chest. “I hate you! I hate you! Why did you do it?” She sobbed and wrapped her arms around her shins, rocking slowly back and forth on the chilled floor. “I hate that you did this to us!” Her sobs sent ripples of pity through me. For some reason I knew she wasn‘t talking about me anymore. Maybe she never was.
I slowly sat next to her and, after taking a large breath, wrapped my arms around her small balled-up frame.
“Don’t touch me.” She shoved against my arms, trying to get free.
“Shhh…” I tried to soothe her. “It will be okay.”
Her head shot up.
“Okay? It will be okay? Are you kidding me? How the hell will it be okay?” Her face twisted in angry disbelief.
I pulled her tighter to my chest, and this time she didn’t fight. She simply huffed in irritation.
“You have two beautiful boys who love you more than you seem to realize. If they would have lost you, it would have crushed them for the rest of their lives.” Her shudder reverberated in my arms.
“You have a family. Regardless of how messed up things are right now, they love you. Even when you’re crazy, they love you.” She tensed in anger for a brief moment.
“And finally…” I pulled back, waiting for her to look into my face, “anyone who has the energy to be such a relentless, righteous bitch all the time has the energy to get past this and come out stronger.”
She sniffed once and then sat silently.
“Oh god, what happened?” Larissa entered, surveyed the room, and hurried to Allison. “I was gone for two hours, Allison. Two hours.” Larissa looked panicked.
“It’s fine.” Allison pushed away from me and looked at Larissa as she wiped her face on her cashmere sleeve. “I’m fine.” Taking a deep breath she climbed back onto her feet and straightened out her coffee-stained clothes. Allison looked at me for a brief moment before turning and leaving the room.
After an hour of sitting in my room attempting to focus on my book, I finally gave up. I’d just put all of my things on my desk when I heard a knock. My heart leapt.
Is Victoria home? No, no, she would just burst into the door
. Maybe it was someone telling me she was home. I swung the door open quickly.
“Dr. Bishop?”
“Miss Ashwood.” He sounded harsh and calculating.
So we’re back to this. “What can I do for you?” I eyed him wearily.
The harsh lines on his face melted, and there was a small gleam that flickered in his eyes before he responded.
“Victoria will be arriving in twenty minutes.”
I nodded.
“Okay, thank you.” I started to shut my door, but he pushed it open and entered quickly. “What are you –?”
He pulled me to his chest.
“I can‘t do this.”
His hold was tight but not too tight. He smelled so, so, so good.
Stop it, Sophia!
I gave myself an internal slap.
“Please stop,” I whimpered.
“I know there are risks, but can‘t we just—”
“Hide me away?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“I don‘t want you hidden.” His voice hardened. “But for the sake of Victoria, that‘s how it needs to be…for now.” He brought a hand to my cheek.
“So we risk your family finding out, and we risk hurting and losing Victoria?” I pulled my face from the touch I longed for.
“I don‘t care about my family finding out. It‘s only a risk until I figure out how to handle Grace, and Victoria would never be hurt by this.” Despair clouded his handsome face.
“You don‘t think it would hurt her if this,” I motioned between us, “were not to work? She would be crushed if I had to leave.” He opened his mouth, but then closed it tightly. “I can‘t be a part of risking anything where Victoria is concerned.”
He shook his head.
“I can’t be around you every day.” If I wasn‘t used to the variances of his hard voice, I wouldn‘t have been able to hear the want in his statement. “I can‘t do that anymore.” I opened my mouth, but he shut me up with his lips.
Those warm lips were attached to such an intense person. The contradiction of his cold mannerisms and warm kisses and fiery touches were all a part of the turn on.
I should be ashamed of myself.
He was like two different men sometimes. Once he pulled back, I simply looked into his eyes and saw that small gleam of hope again.
“I can‘t risk her.”
“You won’t,” he assured me sternly. “Nothing will stop me from keeping Victoria safely in my home.”
I shook my head.
“You can‘t be sure that—”
“I can.” He hardened his tone and straightened his body before releasing me from his hold. Before another word could be spoken, he was gone.
The chime of the doorbell brought me out of a daze. Excitement flew through me like wildfire, and I hurried to the door. My feet hit the first floor just as Dr. Bishop was opening the door and motioning someone in. There she was. Victoria. I started to smile but then furrowed my brow at the expression on her face. She looked tired and sad, almost depressed. “See, right on time,” Grace boasted to Collin as she fluttered her eyes at him and released Victoria‘s hand.
“Yes, thank you,” he said curtly and then glanced to Victoria. “Did you have a nice time?”
Grace‘s head shot down to look at Victoria. She glanced up to answer her father but caught sight of Grace‘s look and simply nodded. My brow morphed into a scowl.
I cleared my throat lightly, and Victoria‘s head snapped to me. I winked at her, and a large grin spread across her face. Squatting down to the floor, she ran toward me, tackling me with full force.
“Have you been practicing football or something?” I laughed. “Geesh.”
She giggled.
“I missed you,” I whispered and hugged her tightly.
She latched on to me when she heard Grace‘s voice.
“Are you going to come give Mommy a kiss goodbye?”
“I don‘t want to,” she whispered to me.
“Then you don‘t have to,” I whispered back. We stood from the floor and started walking toward Victoria‘s room.
“Victoria?” she yelled after us. There was a long pause. “Collin, can you please speak with her about her behavior?”
“If she doesn‘t wish to tell you goodbye, then I won‘t force her to,” he said, calm, cool, and collected.
“Well, you should do something about that god awful slut. She is the reason she has such atrocious manners,” Grace spat, and then I heard the front door shut.
Victoria and I reached her room. I started going through her bag and cleaning it out. “So…how was it?” I asked in hopes she would tell me she enjoyed herself, but part of me knew that wasn‘t going to happen.
“It was fine,” she said quietly.
“Sweetheart, you know you can tell me anything, right? If something is wrong, then I want you to tell me about it.” I was pleading for her to spill whatever was bothering her.
She only nodded.
“I’m going to get changed.” Her voice was too quiet, too different.
I put her clothes in the dirty laundry basket and placed her empty bag in the closet. Then I sat on her bed and waited. When she came out of the bathroom, she looked minimally better.
“You ready to talk to me yet?” I raised my brow at her.
She sighed.
“I don’t like it there.” Victoria sat on the bed next to me.
“Did she do something to you?” She shook her head. “Victoria, if she did something, then I need you to tell me, okay?” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and held my breath.
“She didn’t do anything. Nothing at all.” There was a spark of anger in her voice.
I gave her a confused look.
“Grace wasn’t there the entire time, Sophia,” she cried out. “I spent most of the time with a strange woman named Karen. She watched me.” Her arms crossed her chest.
“She just left you? Where did she go?” Victoria opened her mouth, but that’s not the voice we heard.
“Grace left you where?” Dr. Bishop’s voice boomed.
“Nowhere, Daddy.” Victoria shook her head.
“What did she do to her?” Dr. Bishop looked to me for answers.
“Apparently, Grace left her with a babysitter named Karen the entire time she was there.”
He looked to Victoria.
“She didn’t spend any time with you at all?” Victoria flinched from the anger in his words. I put my hand on Dr. Bishop’s arm but looked at Victoria.
“You aren’t in trouble,” I reassured her. “It’s just that she was supposed to spend time with you. That’s the reason she wanted to see you.”
I pulled my hand away from Dr. Bishop’s arm when I realized I lingered too long.
“I apologize for sounding so harsh, Victoria.” He sat next to her on the bed. “I’m not angry with you.”
“You’re angry at Grace?” she asked with a curious look. He nodded. “Do I have to go back?” Her eyes were searching his face.
“For now, yes.” Her face fell. “I’ll talk with the lawyers tonight.” He kissed the top of her head and left the room.
“Are you okay?” I kneeled in front of her.
She shrugged.
“I didn’t even get my own room.”
“What?”
“I had to sleep on the couch.” Her eyes met mine. “She only has one bedroom.”
“Oh.”
That witch couldn’t at least share a bed with her daughter?
“I’m hungry.” Victoria looked at me sheepishly.
“Come on. Let’s get you something to eat.” I smiled widely, and when she took my hand I had never been happier. She was home, where she belonged.
When Friday arrived, I could see the tension written all over Victoria, knowing that she was supposed to go with Grace the next day. I tried to keep her mind occupied but wasn‘t able to help when Grace showed up to take her again. The tears were the same as before, as was the retreat to my room. Knowing how miserable Victoria was with Grace had me curled into a ball on the couch in my room. I kept the room dark and the television off, letting my tears dampen the couch cushions.